The Game of the Chesse (Caxton, facsimile)

...of his coming, came again to Alexander to make a request original: "desire and requyre" of him. And when he saw Alexander, he intended to have asked his request. Alexander interrupted original: "brake" his request beforehand and swore to him by his gods, before he asked anything, that he would in no way do such a thing as he asked or required of him.

Then the philosopher Historically identified as Anaximenes of Lampsacus, who sought to save his city from Alexander's wrath. required him to destroy the city. When Alexander understood his desire and the oath that he had made, he allowed the city to stand and not be destroyed; for he would rather not do his own will than to be perjured and forsworn and act against his oath.

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, a famous Roman rhetorician. says that no great man or lord should swear, except where there is great need; and that the simple word original: "parole" of a prince ought to be more stable than the oath of a merchant. Alas, who among the princes keeps their promises in these days? Not only their promises, but their oaths, their seals, their writings, and the signatures of their own hands—all fail. God amend it!

A king also ought to hate all cruelty, for we read that no merciful original: "pietous" person ever yet died an evil death, nor has a cruel person ever died a good death. Therefore, Valerius Valerius Maximus, a Roman author known for his collection of historical anecdotes. recounts that there was a man named Perillus original: "Therile", a craftsman in metal, who made a bull of copper and a little door original: "wyket" on the side whereby men might be put inside to be burned. And it was made in such a manner that those who were put and enclosed within should cry out with a sound not like the voice of a man, but like that of an ox. And he made this so that men should have the less pity for them. When he had made this bull of copper, he presented it to a king who was called Phalaris original: "Philaride"; the tyrant of Acragas in Sicily, famous for his cruelty..